How consuming is grief? How does it alter our sense of time? What if there was a way for us to connect with the dead? Or even...bring them back?

Patrick Delaney's 'The House that Fell from the Sky' is a meditation on grief wrapped up in a haunted house story. Scarlett Vantassel is approaching thirty and experiencing the growing pains of that particularly bittersweet moment of adulthood when you reflect back and realize that life isn't what you thought it would be. In an effort to reevaluate her life, she moves back to her hometown and tries to connect with old friends. Then one night, for no apparent reason, a Gothic mansion seemingly "falls" from the sky and right into the middle of Scarlett's hometown. The house has a presence and quickly becomes a character within the framework of the story. The house is also impenetrable, and only seems to let in (or out), those that it chooses. And it sits there, for a year.

The book can best be understood in two parts. The first focuses on the lives and interactions of Scarlett and her friends. Told in a nonlinear fashion, this section of the story allows readers to understand the undercurrent of complexities within the friend group. I found this section particularly tedious for a few reasons...

1) The author's writing. To call it "descriptive" does not seem to encompass the extent to which sections dragged and gestures, thoughts, minor moments were exhaustively drawn out. I noticed that I was skipping sections of text just to get to the dialogue an move the story forward. Some would call this "beautiful", but I think well-placed sections of descriptive text can be more impactful than a full 500+ pages worth of material.

2) The house. The HOUSE was this big thing that literally inserted itself into the story, and yet, we have to wait almost a year into the story before the plot moves in such a way that we (the reader0 really gets to interact with it. This was frustrating and seemed to bury the lead.

The second part of the story is when the Crow Corporation take "ownership" of the house and holds a lottery for people to enter the house. Scarlett and her friends, along with a magician that "might" be behind this whole thing, are some of the lucky that can enter the house. But once there, the house feeds on the memories and emotions causing confusion and heartache to surface.

Conceptually, I think what Delaney has done is very sophisticated and engaging. 'The House that Fell from the Sky' reads like one big metaphor for grief. Maybe that is what I as the reader brought to the table, but I think it works. That in the moment, when the house falls on you, you can't always deal with it right then. And when you do, it's rarely a straightforward plan and path to the backdoor and back out into the sunshine. It's easy to get lost down corridors, find nooks previously unknown. My only complaint is the writing style. I think the length is perfectly fine, but the descriptions and fluid/floofy writing could have helped shorten the page count by a decent amount.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!

This book was a wild ride. The plot was a little weak as to *why* all the spooky, crazy shit was happening... but the imagery for the spooky crazy shit was *chefs kiss*.

There are scenes from this book that will stay with me forever. However, trying to explain this plot to someone is nearly impossible.

I firmly believe this would make a great miniseries on the sci-fi channel or a great low budget horror film. If low budget horror is something you enjoy to watch, I think you'd enjoy reading this book!

Thank you Netgalley, Patrick R. Delaney and Oblivion Publishing for the Advanced reader copy.

CAWPILE Rating: 4.63 => 2 stars

Characters: 5.0
Atmosphere: 4.0
Writing: 6.0
Plot: 6.5
Intrigue : 3.0
Logic: 4.0
Enjoyment: 4.0

The characters were distinct characters and had individual voices. However, all the characters read like teenagers instead of in their late twenties. All the problems and relationships also felt like teenage angst.
The book is also set up into two parts, the first half is character development and the second half is them going into the haunted house. I think the characters were explored really well in the first half and the flashbacks helped with building the background. I just missed some of the motivations of specific actions in this book.
There is also a year gap in this book of the House appearing in the village and the friend group going into the building. But storywise no time seems to have passed. All the characters are in the same place as they were a year ago and they still have the same problems with each other. Plus it seemed really unlogical that nothing happened with the house for a whole year.

The exploration of the house had a great premise but the execution fell a bit flat for me. The characters are stuck in a loop where they wake up in different parts of the house and creepy things are going on and when they die they wake up in another part of the house.
The creepy stuff was really well done, but the constant info dump of how all the rooms looked, drew me so much out of the story. because every chapter started with 2 pages explaining how the walls, floor, interior looked, and then something creepy happened for 1 page and we were back in a new room. This resulted into not connecting with the story and the suspense was gone.
I think this would come more into its own in a tv show or movie, because the visuals of the creepy stuff was really great.

This seems like a bit of a hit or a miss. Personally, i fell somewhere in the middle. For me the jumping back and forth between the present and the past thoroughly confused me, it seemed like there was no chronological order. I also didn’t find the book that creepy which is a bit disappointing as i was hoping to be freaked out!

Regardless, the synopsis and idea behind it is very much appreciated it. I would’ve loved to learn more of the house’s history too. Maybe you’ll enjoy it more than me ! Thanks for the opportunity to review :)

This story had so much potential. The concept was great, original, creepy. A house falls from the sky, exudes evil, drives anyone who passes its doors insane? Yes, please.

But potential doesn't earn a book five stars. This book suffered from a serious lack of editing. A third to half of it could have been cut to make the story flow more easily. The overabundance of descriptions kills the action. We don't need to know that the MC has "kind, brown eyes" every time she looks at something. The facade of the house does not need multiple paragraphs of description every time someone sees it. Add to this a few continuity errors and some plain old proofreading oversights, and the story is bogged down by writing that just needs a little finesse. Also I came away with a few unanswered questions, parts of the story which didn't seem to have any real significance and just sort of faded away as the plot progressed.

With all that said, the premise of the story truly was a good one. There are seriously goosebump-inducing moments and the weirdness is off the charts. A good edit would make this a stellar story.

A rather ominous house violently appears out of nowhere in a small town that is going nowhere. So what's this house all about? What's inside its locked doors? Give it a read. I was glad I did. Characters are well drawn so you get to know these people. They are all 30ish and sometimes I felt they acted immaturely for that age, but that is just my opinion. The story makes extensive use of imagery so the reader can get the full effect of the environments the characters experience. You will able to "see" what they see. Job well done, Mr. Delaney!

We spend so much time talking about or around events (both past and present) that, despite the rapid dialogue and good character chemistry, it felt like nothing was actually happening. Horror, to me, needs to really sit in descriptions, draw out every strange moment to make it both undeniable and unavoidable. Instead, so much is brushed off with a poor attempt at witty dialogue and references to pop culture.

I didn’t particularly like this book. It was a strange reading.
The plot was interesting but in the end I didn’t like the book.

I'm currently reading this read e-arc in exchange for a review. It's very strange. I was enjoying but I think the time-line changed. Hopefully I can continue soon.

This book has an excellent plot. The author does a great job creating atmosphere and attention to details. However, I felt the characters, who are supposed to be in their upper 20's, acted more like teenagers and that was a problem for me.

This one one of those books that you think about for a long time. Though I wish it was longer I can't wait to read more.

A very good story, gripping and entertaining. I liked the spooky atmosphere, the style of writing and the world building.It's a page turner that kept me on the edge till the end. I will be recommending this to other horror lovers!

The premise of this story was so promising but unfortunately the execution was lacking for me.

The story was incredibly slow to get going - the story was half way over before we even entered the house! The characters were supposed be in their late 20s to early 30s and yet read like immature teenagers. The author failed to create any real tension or suspense and the story was not scary in the slightest. The writing was confusing and the passages within the house itself were repetitive.

Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.

First can we take a minute to appreciate this beautiful cover? I always love a story centered around a haunting, mysterious house. They are my favorite settings. This had great world building and a great plot. The author does a great job at creating tension and keeping you on your toes. Although the characters were difficult to connect with, I still really enjoyed this book. I think fellow horror lovers will find this story delightfully creepy.

I started this book with the idea that it would be horror and gore from the start and with the acception of the first chapter (where the house falls down), I didnt feel the tension build. I ended up DNFing this book and 15% as I just did not feel the tension building as much as the front cover suggests. This is a case of the cover does not fit the beginning of the story at least. I may go back to this book at some point and give it more of a chance.

The House that Fell from the Sky by Patrick Delaney was received direct from the publisher and I chose to write an awesome review. I must admit, from the book "blurb/description," I did not think I would like it and even the first portion of the lead up I was not that enthralled with the book But, wait for it, the house and its horrors grabbed me and would not let me go. I am a seasoned horror writer and reader so I was able to sleep at night after reading this, but others I know would still be awake, afraid the houses horrors would come their way. If this sounds like a boook you or someone you buy gifts for would like, give it a read right now.

4 Stars due to the slow start

Thank you to NetGalley and Oblivion publishing for this ARC.

The House that Fell From the Sky is an interesting story and a new twist on your typical haunted house books. While I did like the book, the ending fell flat to me. Also, the characters weren’t relatable, BUT the writing was fantastic. If you read just know that a lot of what happens is quite unbelievable, but that’s the best thing about horror/sci-fi books in my opinion!

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

I really tried to get on with this, I felt that there was a good story trying to get out but it felt like it was written by a 14yr old creative writing student.